(61) CHESSMATE 35 CORRESPONDENCE CHESS

THE International Chess Federation (FIDE) gives international Grandmaster awards to correspondence players even though they are competing without even leaving their countries.

In 1975, FIDE awarded J. Boey of Belgium and K. Richardson of England the title of International Grandmaster.

In the same year, 26 other correspondence players were given the title of International Master, two of them doctors, Czech V. Brat and German W. Seeliger.

Seven women players received the title of International Woman Master and eight got titles of international arbiter.

Correspondence games are interesting because they involve a lot of deep calculation.

HERE IS A GAME BETWEEN C. CRANBOURNE (WHITE) VS. R. CRESPO (BLACK) IN 1989:

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c5 the Benoni Defence leads to very sharp positions. 3. d5 e6 4. Nc3 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 6. e4 g6 7. f4 Bg7 8. Nf3 0-0 9. Be2 Re8 10. e5 dxe5 11. fxe5 Ng4 12. Bg5 f6 13. exf6 Bxf6 14. Qd2 Bf5 15. 0-0 Bxg5 16. Qxg5 Qxg5

17. Nxg5 despite the exchange of queens, the position is still very sharp. White has a large advantage in the endgame due to his active pieces.

... Ne5 18. Bb5 Rd8 19. Rfe1! a spectacular sacrifice! Black's king will be in a lot of danger. ... Nc2 20. Re7 a6 If instead 20. ... Nxa1, then white would continue his attack with 21. g4!

21. Bc4 b5 22. Rf1 bxc4 If 22. ... Ne3, then 24. Nce4 will win. 23. g4 Ne3 If 24. ... Bxg4, then 24. Rff7 results in a mating attack.

25. gxf5 Nxf5 If 24. ... Nxf1, then 25. f6 Rf8 26. Rg7+ Kh8 27. Rh7+ Kg8 28. f7+ wins.

25. Rc7 Nd7 26. Nce4 threatening 26. Rxd7 Rxd7 27. Nf6+. 26. ...Nf8 27. Nf6+ Kh8 28. Rxf5 gxf5 29. Ne6 Rd6 30. Rg7 Black resigns.

The threat is 31. Rg8 mate and 30. ... Nxe6 allows 31. Rxh7 mate.

All tournaments held in Palau offered correspondence chess games to accomodate ALL players regardless of their work schedules.

If a player is not off from work on Sunday, he can still participate. One requirement is that the player must be able to read and write chess notations as above.

The first game that was played over the telephone was between Jose Omega and Amante Caballero on August 23, 2003 where Omega won with the black pieces in 25 moves of a Four Knights Defence.

Omega eventually became the Class B champion of the 2003 Age-Group Chess Tourney.

The 2nd telephone match pitted Mrio Ramos (white) against Ivan II Chess Computer. The match lasted more than 3 hours and Ramos finally won on 60 moves also in a Four Knights Defence.

Solution to last week's puzzle: 1. Qxb8+ Kxb8 2. Rd8+ Kb7 3. Rb8 mate.

Source:

Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez

Tia Belau Newspaper

June 25- July 02, 2004